IMPORTANT POINT
While hearing appeal against acquittal the High Court must examine the grounds and reasons on which trial Court disbelieved the evidence of material witnesses and the circumstances which belied prosecution case.

ORDER

Appellant Anil Kumar stood charged under Section 306 IPC for having abeted the commission of offence of suicide by his wife Renu Bala on the fateful day of 29.10.1985. According to the prosecution case the accused and the deceased were neighbours and they developed intimacy among them. But when the question of their marriage came up, the parents of the deceased did not like the idea and persuaded the deceased not to marry the accused. But on account of close intimacy between the accused and the deceased, and on the insistence of the deceased the marriage took place on 14th August, 1985 without much pomp and show. But soon after the marriage the accused put pressure on his wife the deceased to get money from the parents-in-law and in fact on such demand being made, the father-in-law PW 7 gave a Television and Refrigerator. But soon thereafter when the further demand of Rs. 20,000/- was made PW 7 pleaded inability and wanted some time so that the money could be arranged and given. Then the further prosecution case is that on the date of occurrence at 12.00 noon the accused and the deceased quarrelled among themselves on account of the fact that the father of the deceased did not give the money demanded and then both of them went to their room in the upstairs and bolted the room from inside and thereafter, a hue and cry was raised whereupon the PWs 7 and 13 rushed to the place of occurrence and found the room being ablazed while being bolted from inside. The room was then broken up and accused was found inside the room while the deceased was burning. Then the deceased was removed to the hospital, and on the basis of information given by PW 7 the police registered a case. The deceased died on the next morning, and thereafter on completion of the investigation, the police submitted the charge-sheet on the basis of which accused was tried for the offence, as already stated. The learned sessions judge examined the evidence on record and came to hold that the investigation itself had not been fairly done which is apparent from the fact that even when the deceased was still alive a case has been registered under Section 306 IPC. The sessions judge also considered the material omissions in the statement of PWs 7 and 13 before the police under Section 161, Criminal Procedure Code and came to the conclusion that such material omissions amount to contradiction and have been duly confronted to the witness for which no explanation has been offered, and therefore, it would be unsafe to rely on the said testimony to base a conviction of the accused of the charge levelled against him. The sessions Judge also came to the conclusion that the time gap between the date of marriage and the alleged occurrence is such that it militates against any demand for financial assistance. The evidence of PW 7 that he had given a television and refrigerator was belied by the fact that no such seizure was made by the police in course of investigation from the house of the accused, the non-examination of one Sudershan, who is alleged to be the witness who saw the accused and the deceased going to the upstairs and bolted the room from inside and whereafter the room was seen ablazed was also considered to be fatal to the prosecution and no explanation has been offered by the prosecution for non-examination of said Sudershan. The learned sessions Judge also commented upon the fact that though the occurrence took place in a busy locality yet none of the witnesses of the locality was examined by the prosecution. Finally, the learned sessions judge also taking into consideration the fact that the very prosecution case unfolded from the evidence of PWs 7 and 13 that the room had been bolted from inside and was seen ablazed and it is PW 7 who broke open the room and found the accused inside the room is not believable as there has been no sign of any breaking of the door and the investigation is totally silent on that aspect of the matter. Taking all the factors i